How to Make an Animated Explainer Video
Have you ever wondered how to make an animated explainer video? Whether you’re looking to make your own marketing videos or training animations, or you just want to know more about the exciting process of making animation, strap yourself in while we dive into the details!
We’re no stranger to creating them, in fact it’s how we spend most of our time! Here’s how we do it…
Researching for Animated Explainer Videos
The first step is to research your topic and have a clear understanding of the subject you want to explain and identifying the video objectives. In our case this often involves reading technical documents, conducting online research, or speaking with subject matter experts.
The next step of the planning is visual research! This involves making mood boards for characters, sets, and overall art style. These don’t need to be pretty, they’re a functional tool to inform the design work. Here’s an example of a typical moodboard we would put together.
Planning an Animation
Objectives set, and confident in the subject matter, the next step is planning the animation itself! We often start with a written narrative outline, which then informs a final script and storyboard. The final script will set the tone for the project. You can think of a storyboard as a comic strip; it’ll show how things will be visualised, the composition, and how scenes will flow into one another. The art style in the storyboard is only rough and not how the final animation will look.
Need advice on this step? Get in touch with our team of experts!
Visual Development for Animated Videos
When the storyboard is finalised, we start planning out how everything will look in its final form! This includes drawing characters, backgrounds, important props, and well… everything! We usually start by exploring a few potential styles before we settle on one, and then create concept shots to act as a guide to make sure everything fits seamlessly!
A typical 60 second explainer animation will need around 30 unique pieces of artwork. We do all of our art digitally using Adobe Photoshop and graphics tablets (Wacom or Huion are our picks)
Animation Tools
Most of what we create is animated in Adobe After Effects. Occasionally we’ll add in 3D elements using Blender, and if things need frame by frame drawing, we’ll use Photoshop or Adobe Animator
The animation process starts with our technical animator creating character rigs (like digital puppets) that the animators can manipulate. This step involves some custom programming (primarily javascript), and a few different plugins (DUIK being the main tool).
Animating the Animation
It’s finally time! With character rigs ready, it’s off to the animators! Character animation is an entire art form in itself so it’s difficult to summarise. In short, we primarily use the Pose-to-Pose method for blocking in key poses and facial expressions, before diving into the graph editor to manually adjust splines and offset different frames. A typical scene will go through 3 passes before we’re happy to mark it complete.
If you’re new to animation, it’s best to start with the basics and master the 12 Animation Principles before attempting anything too complex. Without a thorough understanding of these principles, animation can look jarring and uncomfortable, and will likely hinder your message rather than help it.
Ready to Make Your Own Animations?
It’s a complicated process that we’ve had to breeze through in this blog, but don’t be disheartened! Every step of making an animated video is fun and creatively challenging, and that’s why we love what we do! If you’re interested in learning more there are countless online resources to help you get started in Adobe After Effects!
Alternatively, if you need an animated explainer video for your project without the time investment, get in touch and see how we can help bring your idea to life!
